Celebrating World Water Day
World Water Day (March 22) inspires awareness and action to promote access to clean water worldwide. This year is all about accelerating change. Clean, reliable and sustainable access to water is essential for healthy communities. Bay Area Council members are committed to championing water sustainability and conservation in the Bay Area.
The Council is accelerating change by leading the California Resilience Challenge to develop a pipeline of climate adaptation projects in California to strengthen resilience to drought, heat, floods and wildfire. This winter, the California resilience Challenge Advisory Committee announced project winners, including seven projects to address flooding and drought in the Central Valley and San Francisco Bay Area.
In 2022, Council member Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced a commitment to be water positive by 2030. AWS will return more to communities and the environment than they use in their data centers. Becoming water positive will include investments and partnerships that improve water efficiency, promote sustainable water sources, increase water reuse and restore watersheds. AWS along with The Freshwater Trust and the Omochumne-Hartnell Water District are working to restore groundwater along the Cosumnes River to help solve water challenges in the region.
Council member Salesforce is also a leader in water conservation. Its iconic tower in downtown San Francisco features an innovative wastewater recycling system that collects wastewater from sources such as rooftop rainwater, cooling towers, showers, sinks, toilets, and urinals; treats the water through a six-step process in a centralized treatment center; and recirculates it through a separate pipe system to serve non-potable uses in the building, such as toilets and drip irrigation.
California Water Service is another Council member that takes water conservation very seriously. San Jose-based Cal Water is the largest regulated American water utility west of the Mississippi River and the third largest in the country, serving 494,500 customer connections through 23 districts throughout California. Cal Water offers a robust library of resources to help consumers reduce water use and use water wisely.
Hospitals and healthcare facilities are among the biggest water consumers in our communities, which is why Council member Kaiser Permanente is working so hard to conserve water. Kaiser is committed to reducing water consumption by 25% per square foot of its buildings by 2025. Learn about the measures Kaiser is taking to meet this goal.
These are just a few of the Bay Area Council’s more than 300 member companies that are working to conserve water through innovative technologies and practices. If you want to share your great work to support World Water Day, the United Nations has a helpful toolkit with everything you need to engage with your audience!
